The British Tahu Ratum Expedition

This summer Hamish Dunn, Luke Hunt and Tom Ripley will attempt the unclimbed NW Ridge of Tahu Ratum (6651m) in alpine style. This blog will be regularly updated throughout the build-up and during the expedition.

"An alpine style ascent of Tahu Ratum (6651m) is a particularly noteworthy and challenging objective, which will help raise the profile of British mountaineering." - Sir Chris Bonington - Expedition Patron.

Friday, 11 February 2011

Appologies to any one who has checked, because this is long overdue. Hamish, Holly, Luke and I are safe and sound back in the UK. We had a brilliant time in Pakistan, but unfortunately were foiled by bad weather and we unable to climb Tahu Ratum.

I've written up an expedition report, which goes over our trip in detail. It can be found here.

Hamish has put in a lot of time and effort into producing this excellent video, which offers a good flavor of our trip:

A final huge thank you to any one and everyone who supported this summer, particularly the orgainisations that gave us grants, without your support we would have been unable to go to Pakistan last summer.

Monday, 30 August 2010

A very hot and humid morning here in Islamabad.We've spent a few days in the capital tying up loose ends. We've had a fair amount of admin to do such as paying our agent, collecting our helicopter rescue deposit and changing our plane tickets. On Sunday Luke and Hamish went climbing at a local crag with John Arran and we all spent a lovely evening out with Nazir Sabir. Monday involved another 3 hours arguing at the PIA offices to get the 240GBP of flight change charges waived. We went from manager to manager and eventually got the district manager to waive the charges- the branch manager was furious!

We're flying out of Islamabad in 4 hours and will be back in the UK this evening.

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

This is our fourth day in Pakistan but it seems like we've been away much longer!

Saturday

After an entertaining overnight flight with PIA (and the best in-flight meal I have ever tasted - curry and chapatti) we arrived in Islamabad at 6am. Even at this time in the morning the temperature was in the high thirties and very humid. The airport is a little outside of Islamabad and it was a thirty minute ride to where we were staying. This was our first experience of Pakistani driving and it was certainly eye opening. To an outsider there seems to be little logic between the movements of cars, horses, cyclists and ornately decorated trucks. According to our driver there are few accidents, so this strange kind of dance must really work!

We arrived at Jamsine lodge, our thankfully air-conditioned guest house. After a few hours of much needed kip we met our guide and spent the afternoon driving round the city visiting officials from the Alpine Club of Pakistan and the helicopter rescue company (hopefully we won't meet again!). We spent the evening in browsing the vibrant markets of downtown Islamabad - In a vain effort to turn his life around, Tom picked up a few books including: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Watch this space! - Before meeting up with John Arran, a climber from Sheffield, working out here. Alcohol is available in Pakistan, so we had to go to a very discreet downstairs bar in the Marriot hotel to aquire our illicit beverages. It was great to meet up and share stories (and thanks for dinner!). He has recently put up the hardest sport route in Pakistan, and plans to keep breaking the record every weekend!

Sunday

After an (almost) alpine start we arrived at the airport for the early flight to Gilgit. It was all looking good until it was cancelled 10 minutes before departure. The locals protested but after two hours we all gave up, and with some trepidation elected to take the notoreous Karakoram Highway. We also gained an extra passenger - sharing the bumpy ride with lecturer from Texas University - studying the traditional languages of the Hunza Valley.

A typical view on the death defying KKH - Photo: Luke Hunt.

Driving up into the mountains we passed through some eye opening scenes in the Pakistani countryside. The area is so full of life! We set off late and had to drive some of the most dangerous roads (in terms of bandits and big drops) at night. We passed through some interesting areas and at one point shared our vehicle with a Policeman, compete with AK47! All very exciting! We arrived in our guesthouse in Chileas after 22 hours on the go. Thanks to our tireless driver, who kept us bouncing and bumping along the crumbly and sometimes missing road and more importantly from plummiting into the abyss!

Monday

With the most dangerous roads behind us and our new found immunity to crumbly edges and steep drops we made our merry way up the Hunza valley. We are now staying in the Hilltop Hotel in Karimmabad - I make no exaggeration when I say this valley is the one of most beautiful I have ever been to, with soaring mountains, colourful, friendly people and lush vegetation.

Today we have been shopping for all the food we will need for the expedition. Having developed a taste for chapatti and curry, (and underestimated costs somewhat!) we are planning to live on a very traditional diet during the expediton.

The trip so far has been a richly intense experience, with a new challenge around every corner. At time of writing Hamish has just infomed us that a small landsilde has blocked the road up to Hispar Village and is about to cause us no end of trouble...

This will be our last detailed post until we return to civilisation. However, we are intending send updates via sat phone texts so stay tuned!

The Team

Hamish Dunn - 21 - is a Nottingham University Engineering Student. He has spent the last year based Lyon, France. As he expected Hamish has got some fantastic skiing and alpine climbing done over the winter, including the North Face of the Droites, but he wasn’t expecting it to rain everyday in Lyon.

Luke Hunt - 21 - is a Manchester University Medical Student. He hails from the North Yorkshire Moors, which seems to have given him a pathological desire for loose cliffs, benightment and general epics. Luke counts the Peuterey Integrale as his finest route to date.

Tom Ripley - 20 - has spent the last year trying to be a student at Bangor University, but has found that going cragging is much more fun! He counts Orion Direct, Eliminate A and the Freney Pillar amongst his favorite climbs. Tom has no dress sense and will challenge anyone who does not think Gogarth is the best crag in the world!

Bangor University Student and keen adventurer Holly Mumford (21) will join the boys on the trek to base camp.

Tom, Hamish and Luke atop the Petit Dru after climbing the North Face

A big thank you to the following orgainisations that have supported us financially.